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A city’s transit network is its circulatory system. And in Toronto’s case, says Rahul Bhardwaj, that system is “old and clogged.”

“The city’s not working,” argues the president and CEO of the Toronto Community Foundation. “We have not invested sufficiently in our infrastructure and it’s hurting people.

“But a lot of things are being done right now; we’re building a transit network on a regional basis, in Hamilton, Mississauga, and, in the form of the Viva system, in York Region.”

In recent years, however, these successes have been overshadowed by the debate about whether to build a subway or light rail transit in Scarborough.

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Although a plan for an LRT was adopted and approved by both Toronto City Council and the provincial government, Rob Ford threw that out the window when he was elected mayor in 2010. Since then, the discussion has grown ever more heated and confused. At last count there were no fewer than three proposals for Scarborough transit. And, although every expert agrees the LRT would best suit the circumstances, Ford and his allies have made subways a sort of condition of citizenship. Refusal to give Scarborough a subway is now interpreted to mean the City and Province have turned their back on its residents.

As Bhardwaj points out, public transit is about social equity as much as moving people.

Although transit has become the political issue of the day, the result has been crass political posturing, not a willingness to talk about how planning has neglected the poor and disadvantaged.

“The social dimension is just starting to get on the radar,” Bhardwaj says. “Torontonians have a strong sense of belonging to their community, but there’s great frustration in the city’s priority neighbourhoods, and feelings of distrust and disconnection.

“Thirty-seven per cent of Torontonians use transit. Close to 43 per cent of people with incomes under $23,000 use transit, while 28 per cent of people with incomes over $80,000 use transit. So there is an income and social inequality component that doesn’t often get mentioned,” he adds.

“The Priority Neighbourhoods, in Finch, Scarborough, North Etobicoke and so on, are not well served. This adds to their stress. It’s also an issue of trust. We do have a plan, the Big Move, and we have transit initiatives underway throughout the region, but we’re also looking at social capital.

“The circumstances exacerbate the situation of low-income and extra low-income residents. Without adequate transit, they can’t get to work, to shops, to the doctor and so on. Transit has become a crucible of trust in the public mind.”

A good example is the Finch Ave LRT envisioned in the Transit City plan. Before being killed by the Ford regime, it would have put state-of-the-art rolling stock along one of Toronto’s busiest arteries. That has now been reduced to enhanced bus service.

The fallout of gridlock, which the Toronto Region Board of Trade puts at $6 billion annually, means that our transit failure costs all residents of the GTA, high income or low, as well as the business sector.

Bhardwaj worries about the price of the city’s transit, which is now the most expensive in Canada after Montreal. Still, the chronically underfunded TTC happily raises fares seemingly on an annual basis. All those five- and 10-cent increases may seem inconsequential at the time, but they add up. Regardless, it gives more than half a billion rides annually, and GO Transit, 61 million rides.

“From our perspective,” says Bhardwaj, “the issues are community disconnection as well as lost productivity. A lot is being done right now, but the question is whether the three levels of government can align their forces so that we can get the transit we need.”

So far, the answer remains unclear.

Yes, various projects are under construction, but, as Bhardwaj reminds us, they have yet to address the needs of low-income Torontonians, those who are most dependent on public transit.

The Scarborough fiasco has distracted us from the larger issue of transit as a means of creating greater social and economic equality. The irony, of course, is that the best served are those living in the city’s wealthy downtown neighbourhoods. Those in the post-war inner-suburbs and beyond have been left waiting at the stop.

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